The Variety entertainment news source reports that New Regency, a production company based at Fox, no longer has plans for the live-action Voltron film project, while another company, Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media, is negotiating to pick up the project. If Relativity Media signs onto the remake of the 1980s animated robot series, it will finance and produce the film with a lower budget and the use of technologies similar to those used in Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300 comic. Relativity Media produced or co-produced over fifty projects in the last three years, including Ghost Rider, The Forbidden Kingdom, and Wanted.
Variety reported in April of 2007 that New Regency was negotiating for the rights to the project from the Mark Gordon Company, which is still involved with producers Mark Gordon and Jordan Wynn. The newspaper now reports that New Regency never completed the deal and could not reach an agreement with Voltron’s Japanese rights holders. These talks began before the live-action Transformers film earned the fifth highest worldwide box office take of 2007, and before Warner Brothers began negotiating for the rights to another American adaptation of Japanese robots, Robotech.
If the Voltron project still goes forward, executive producer Bryan Zuriff and the other staffers will select a director by next week. Justin Marks (He-Man, Green Arrow) already wrote a script that resets the Lion Voltron story, which was based on the King of Beasts Golion anime, in post-apocalyptic New York City and Mexico after an alien invasion.
The Japanese broadcaster TV Tokyo published its 2008 annual report which states that Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga has been published in 23 countries, while the anime version airs in over 60 countries. The overall franchise has been licensed in more than 90 countries, and the first four Naruto feature films have been seen in theaters over four million times. According to TV Tokyo, Naruto and Gintama - Samurai in Space contributed to robust sales of overseas rights in the last fiscal year which ended in March.
The report also notes that the Pokémon anime series is watched in 68 countries. This franchise has earned two trillion yen (about US$18 billion), although most of that comes from the original videogames. Last year’s feature film, Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, earned 5.02 billion yen (US$47 million) as the top domestic movie at the Japanese box office.
Another franchise, the Yu-Gi-Oh! brand based on Kazuki Takahashi’s manga, has sold 18.1 billion cards so far. When the franchise reached 15.88 billion cards in 2006, the producers applied to have that record included in the Guinness World Records. Other titles that TV Tokyo highlighted include Sergeant Keroro (Sgt. Frog), Bleach, and Blue Dragon.
The North American distributor Bandai Entertainment has announced at its “surprise” Otakon 2008 panel on Saturday night that it has acquired the feature-length .hack//G.U. Trilogy anime film. Cyber Connect 2 (.hack//SIGN, .hack//Legend Of The Twilight) adapted the story of the .hack//G.U. role-playing game trilogy for this newly animated feature in high definition. The project was first screened in a Tokyo theater in December of 2007, and Bandai Visual released the project on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Japan, after an initial delay, just this past March. Bandai Entertainment and the other Namco Bandai group companies have released the earlier game and anime installments in the franchise, including the .hack//Roots prequel.
Masao Maruyama, the co-founder of the Madhouse anime studio, revealed at his Otakon 2008 panel today that his company is still working on plans for a sequel to the Ninja Scroll action anime film. However, he noted that Ninja Scroll 2 project still needs a script that is acceptable to himself and franchise creator Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
The original movie opened in Japan in 1993, and Manga Entertainment released it in North America and other areas. Madhouse has since created a 2003 spinoff television series that Urban Vision licensed for overseas distribution. The American publisher WildStorm created its comic book take on the story in 2006.
At their joint panel at the Otakon 2008 convention on Friday, World Events Productions and VCI Entertainment have announced that they will ship Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs animated series, which was adapted from the Star Musketeer Bismarck robot action anime, on North American DVD starting on November 18. The first volume will contain 16 or 17 episodes of the series, with two more volumes to follow. The DVDs will only have the American version of the series, although some clips of the original Japanese episodes may be included as extras. However, VCI hopes to have the episodes arranged in actual chronological sequence, rather than based on how they aired on television in the United States.
Actor/producer Samuel Jackson discussed the live-action film plan for the Afro Samurai franchise with the MTV television network’s Movies Blog. When asked if he would be playing the lead role of Afro, Jackson replied, “I’ll be the dead father. I’ll show up in some spiritual scenes, and give him some guidance. We’ll find some young guy that is capable of doing all those things and make it really cool.” Jackson added, “When look at [Afro], I see André 3000″ or André Benjamin of the American hip hop duo OutKast.
The planned live-action film, which does not have a finalized script, was originally announced during Comic-Con International in California in 2006. A sequel to the anime series was revealed at this year’s convention.
Variety reports that Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company have acquired the rights to adapt the four-volume world manga series Miki Falls by Mark Crilley. Television scriptwriter Sera Gamble (Supernatural, Eyes) has been attached to the project. Harper Collins published the original comic series about the high school senior year of Miki Yoshida and Miki’s attempts to connect with a mysterious transfer student named Hiro Sakurai.
Felix Ip, the creative director at Hong Kong’s IMAGI animation studio, has posted four conceptual computer graphics for the Gatchaman film that is in development at his firm. In a reply to a comment in his posting, Ip also said that “Gatchaman will not come in 2009…” He added that the studio is adjusting the project’s art direction to be “more anime and stylize[d] rather than photo realistic.” TMNT director Kevin Munroe was initially attached to this adaptation of Tatsunoko’s science-fiction anime franchise; he has since left the project and the company.
Ip also posted pictures from IMAGI’s Comic-Con International booth, where two hair stylists gave attendees Astro Boy hair makovers.
The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the anime industry group based in Japan, reported that worldwide anime sales reached 239.6745 billion yen (about US$2.26 billion) in 2007. That represents a 7.4% decline from 2006’s 258.7 billion yen (US$2.41 billion), and it also represents the first decline in sales since the group’s first sales report in 2002.
AJA attributed most of the decline to falling numbers for television anime. Television anime earned 47.5 billion yen (US$442 million) in 2007, a 16% drop compared to 55.5 billion yen (US$520 million) in 2006. However, theatrical anime production, video production and licensing fees, video distribution, merchandising, and overseas sales all also experienced sales declines compared to the previous year. Music publishing and distribution did experience small increases in sales. According to AJA, the packaged video software makers were affected by the long-term rise in the number of anime titles with lowering profits per title. The makers have been adjusting recently by lowering the number of titles they release.
AJA represents 56 anime production companies, studios, packaged video software makers, and other companies. Among other activities, it runs the Tokyo International Anime Fair.
